Fuyubi
by Istoria
Summary: A late message, a final scene on a video, and a trail about to go cold in a distant city. Now three nin must relive the final days of their friends in order to solve a mystery which threatens not just Konoha, but shinobi across the world.
1. Chapter 1

"It's just a week. I'll be back before you know it." 

_Liar, you'll be gone months._

"Simple recon, I honestly don't know what they don't send a few chuunin to do it."

_It's an S-rank mission._

"Chouji and Shikamaru are on the team."

_You're taking Ino's place as the bait aren't you?_

"Maybe… when I get back, I'll tell you about it over dinner."

_You just broke the rule. You didn't wait for me to ask you first. That means…_

"Sayonara, Neji."

_That means you're not coming back._

* * *

There are no alarms, no noises, no signal that anything is wrong. There's just a feeling in his gut that brings Neji out of the restless sleep he was in. The sheets end up in a pile on the ground as he stands up quickly. He pauses just long enough to grab the kunai pouch by his bed. 

His bare feet make no sound on the wood floor as he moves down the hall to wake up the rest of the Branch house. They don't bother to ask what is going on when they open the door. He is the head of Branch and he knows something is wrong. That's the only thing that matters.

The Hyuuga compound is guarded against attacks in many different ways. Watching the dozen Branch members make their across the grounds, a common passerby might think they were wobbling drunkenly. In reality, they are avoiding the dozens of nightingale pegs in the floor, designed to chirp when stepped on.

It is an old technique but a valid one still, proven again when there is chirping to the right of them. Neji signals, splitting the group into three parts. One to secure the Head of Main, one to secure the heir and one to raise the alarm.

He stays behind and watches them all, the three hundred and fifty nine degrees of vision concentrated on the expanse of the compound. There is no one but them visible and it worries him even more. He knows someone is here, he just can't see them.

The alarm rings and there is a shimmer in the sky. Three dozen forms suddenly manifest themselves from the shadows. Their appearance is startling and he can hear the rest of the compound react in surprise. They are fighting back now but it is clearly too late to prevent what they were planning.

His first thought is Hinata. As heir, she has been attacked before and is the more likely target. He doesn't make it to her room without a fight. No longer hiding, the invaders see no need to mask their movements. They charge him without fear, only to be pushed back by the force of his Kaiten.

A few more fall to Gentle Fist and he arrives at Hinata's room just in time to see two enemies flying through the shouji door. He thinks it is from the Branch members he sent ahead but they're not even there yet. Instead it is Hanabi that steps out of the door and looks at him.

Inside, one more lays at the feet of her sister and the Hyuuga heir hardly seems winded at all. Something is wrong. It is a formidable force but it was easily overcome. The feeling is in his gut again as he looks at the two girls in front of him. Behind, in the corner of his sight, he can see a mass of chakra systems that must be the brunt of the attack.

Hinata and Hanabi see it as well and before he can react, they're running towards their father's room. Neji barely made it in time to pull them away from the door as it explodes in flames.

Hinata is the one that screams first while Hanabi tries to run inside. He has to tackle her to the ground and let the others try to put out the flames. Hanabi yells at him, screams curses as she is pinned but he doesn't have the heart to tell her what he sees.

There is no point in trying to put out the flames. The head of Main, his uncle, his father's twin, is dead.

* * *

"We sustained massive damage on the east wall, where our guard was stretched. It was obvious they knew exactly where to hit us and the most direct route to the Hyuuga compound." 

"What are causalities?"

"Five dead, twelve wounded."

"Any other sign of targets."

"No, it was a directed and well planned out strike at Hyuuga."

"Not Hyuuga, the head of Main."

The assembled group falls silent as Hinata enters the room. She is flanked by her cousin and a number of Hyuuga elders, one of which has decided to make clear what has happened.

The Hokage, seated at the front of the table, is the only one who can mask her surprise. As Hokage though, she knows she must retain order and at all times appear to be in control. She looks down at Hinata and her worst fears are realized. Seeing the teenage girl, standing there in shock, she knows the exact meaning of the Elder Hyuuga's words.

"The body," she asks, ignoring the shudder from Hinata. It is cruel but bloodlines are important to the village and she has to know.

"Most of it is there."

"Most?" she asks softly.

"They took the head." Hinata sobs but they don't let her leave. This is trial by fire for her now. Whether she is ready or not, she is about to become the new head of Hyuuga. She is too bewildered to realize that now.

Neji watches the people around the Hokage, reading their reaction to his words when he realizes that their concern is muted. It almost as if…

"You knew," Hinata whispers, having come to the same conclusion. "You knew what was going to happen."

"It was a theory," Tsunade says quickly. "We had no way of knowing if it would happen and in truth, we thought we had taken care of the problem."

"What problem?" the elder demands.

Tsunade waits a moment and then nods to Shizune. "Two months ago, we received word that a weapon was under development in Kuroyama, an industrial town just across our border. We sent a team in to investigate without knowing that the weapon was actually there. They sent us word that a Konoha bloodline would be targeted with it. They managed to destroy it before…"

Tsunade pauses. The word has not been sent to the families yet. She can't tell them or show them what happened.

Hinata starts to ask what the weapon was but Neji speaks first. He has forgotten his place as the silent bodyguard from Branch. There is only one thing on his mind as he reads the unspoken words off her expression.

"Who was on the team?"

She's beautiful, but then she always have been. Even when the rest of her peers were in that awkward phase of adolescence she moved like a ballerina, full of grace and elegance in everything she did.

Even now as she is screaming, yelling orders to Chouji as he tries to pull Shikamaru out of the way. Even as her shortened brown hair falls into her face and obscures it. Even with the open wound in her arm turning the ground red.

Her words come too late. A second later, he falls on top of his friend.

He sees her pause, knowing what's going on in her mind. Does she save her comrades or complete her mission?

He knows her better then anyone so it is no surprise that she runs from her friends and into the fray. Nor is it any surprise when she pulls out her scrolls. No surprise when the twin dragons of flame are summoned.

It burns everything around them, including the surveillance video that captured the trio's last attack. And all they are left with is snow.

"It was supposed to be a three month mission," Tsunade says. "S-rank because they were in enemy territory. Shikamaru and Chouji decided she was a good replacement for Ino while she's out on maternity leave and because of anyone in this village, she would be able to identify what the weapon was supposed to do.

"We lost contact with them two weeks ago. Then a single message that they were going to destroy the weapon before it left the town and a Konoha bloodline was attacked. An operative retrieved the tape for us but was unable to get to the safe house the team was using."

"You can ask them," Hinata starts, "for the details when they come back."

Tsunade looks at her and feels a pang of regret for burdening the young girl more this night. "Hinata… they are not coming back."


	2. Chapter 2

Kuroyama was a ghost town. The buildings were rusting, the blood red filth slowly overtaking the minor holes that come with disrepair. The roads were crumbling and the sky was black from the smoke of the few remaining factories. 

There were people there, but they moved like the dead, floating across the walkways with emotionless faces that carried the marks of despair as black bags under their eyes. They didn't notice the trio that had just entered the front gate. No one stopped them as they made their way through town and up the stairs of the deteriorating building. No one came out to see who was opening the door of apartment fifteen. It was abundantly clear that no one here cared.

The team put their bags on the ground and a second later the largest of the group flopped onto the nearest bed. The furniture creaked under the weight.

"Eh, Chouji…"

Before the sentiment could be finished though, the legs broke off and the mattress and its occupant were flung to the ground rather unceremoniously. Shikamaru let out a long sigh which was promptly lost in the laughter of their female companion. He turned towards her and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. "It's just…"

Chouji pushed himself off the ground and started laughing himself. "Should've seen it coming what with the rest of this place looking like it's about to collapse."

"Sorry about this," Shikamaru muttered, helping Chouji steady himself. "When they said we'd have a safe house for the mission, I just assumed they meant a house, not a hole in the wall. No offense, though, I'm glad you're here and not Ino. She would have killed me if she had to spend a month here."

"Thanks, I think."

He didn't acknowledge the response. It was hard enough not seeing Ino in the third spot on their team, but the kunoichi that replaced her was missing her trademark buns, making it like a stranger was with them. She caught him staring at her hair and ran a hand through it.

"It looks odd, right?" she asked.

"Different," he settled on.

She shrugged. "Well, Matsumoto Ichiro just doesn't know what he's missing when he goes for girls with short brown hair and not long." She put her bag on one of the remaining beds.

Shikamaru nodded in agreement. Another reason it was better to have her than Ino on this mission. Asking Ino to change her hair color would have resulted in bodily harm, he was sure of it.

He took the final bed and started to unpack, pulling out radio equipment and assorted wiring. Chouji removed the generator from his backpack and put it next to where he was setting things up. They worked together in tandem until a low hiss emitted from the radio. Shikamaru smiled and Chouji gave him a strong pat on the back.

Leaving his friend as he fiddled with the radio, Chouji returned to the mess that was once a bed and began to unpack his things. It was quiet work broken only by Shikamaru's tapping as he tried to make contact with Konoha. Clothes reorganized and mattress pulled free of the debris, Chouji was as settled as possible and Shikamaru was relaying their first report to Konoha through a series of long and short taps.

Chouji turned his attention to their female partner and frowned a bit. She had stopped unpacking and was simply staring out their grime covered window to the street below. He walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder, watching as it disappeared under the massive girth of his hand.

"Hey, it'll be okay," he said with a smile.

She looked at him and did her best to smile back. "Yeah, I know. It's just… this is the first S-rank mission without my team," she sighed. Her face fell suddenly. "Not that I don't trust you and Shikamaru to…"

"I understand," he interrupted. "It's like when Ino went away for her first solo mission. Shika and I didn't sleep… well, I didn't sleep. Shika couldn't win a game of go against sensei though."

From his corner, Shikamaru snorted in disgust. "He was just lucky that day."

"Your gennin cell, that's for life. Even as jounin, being away from it can be hard," Chouji continued, ignoring his friend's initial response. "Or do I have to tell her about the first time you went on a solo mission?"

She looked over with interest but Shikamaru just mumbled something. "Mission information has been updated," he said, turning off the radio and standing up. He walked to the door and lined himself up, taking three steps forward and then one to the right. He knelt down and pried the floor board loose.

It took Chouji's help to get it free and Shikamaru was left muttering about the over-  
ambitious chuunin that prepared the place. He retrieved the manila folder and let the three identity cards slip out.

"You are Makimoto Fuji, twenty-two year old factory worker from Takayama," Shikamaru stated, handing Chouji the card. "You are Makimoto Amaya, his wife of five years, trained mechanic. You have an appointment with Matsumoto-san in three hours to seek employment at his factory. I'll be posing as Hitohiri Kaori, government employee from the Daimyo's office, here to conduct part of a census. Joy."

Chouji turned a bit red and looked at her almost sheepishly, receiving a laugh in turn. "Well, husband, shall we see about getting some food before we try to find some work?" He relaxed and nodded happily.

"Rendezvous back here at 2200 then," Shikamaru added before they could leave. "I'll be at the library trying to get some background information on the factory." With that final bit of business completed, she latched onto Chouji's arm, walking out the door with him.

* * *

The door opens and Neji walks inside, grim look on his face. Behind him, the two other members of his team are waiting for him to proceed. He sweeps the room, all-seeing eyes taking in each detail of the abandoned safe house. One of the beds is broken, there is a radio on the ground by the window. He can see the remains of the three previous occupants scattered around, forgotten and under a thin layer of dust. 

"Secure," he states, walking inside the room and letting the two behind him inside. They are silent for a moment as they look around the quiet room.

"The radio should still work," Sakura says suddenly, walking towards it. "I'll try to contact Konoha to let them know we arrived."

"That's a good idea, Sakura-san," Lee says walking towards the distinctively feminine pile of clothes. He reaches down and pulls a senbon from under the pile. For moment, he looks like he's about to cry but instead, his hand clenches around it and he stands straight again.

He looks over at his teammate, wondering for a moment what is going through the other man's head. But as Lee moves towards him to ask, the floor under him creaks. They both share a glance and Lee kneels down.

Lee is about to pry the board up when Neji catches his hand. Silently, his hands move and he whispers the Dispel jutsu. The board glows for a moment signaling that the trap is unset. Lee returns to forcing it open.

Underneath, there is a pile of handwritten notes, the distinctive sharpness of each stroke making its owner clear. Lee reads each sheet and hands it up to his partner as he's done.

"Does it make any sense to you?" Lee asks.

Neji shakes his head. "No. He obviously encoded it. Haruno, you should be able to break this, correct?"

The kunoichi has her hand stuck in her black hair, dyed to hide the pink that would otherwise stand out. "Huh?" she asks, distracted by the radio.

"The notes are in code," he repeats. But he does not say more. His eyes are locked on the radio.

"Oh, yeah sure. I'm just having trouble getting the radio to…"

Neji doesn't say anything. Instead, like a blur, he grabs her and pulls her away. Lee doesn't need an explanation. He has known his teammate long enough to know that his actions indicate they are in immediate danger.

With no time to open it, Neji jumps for the window and crashes through. Sakura drops to the ground first and rolls away, hand on her kunai pouch as she watches him land next to her. Lee appears next to them just in time.

The room explodes and rains brick and burning wood onto them. They make a run for it, dashing for safety as the building burns. Lee starts to ask what happened but he stumbles backwards unexpectedly. Sakura shifts towards him instantly, palm flaring with chakra as she closes the wound on his arm.

Neji's eyes activate, veins protruding from the skin but his head doesn't move. He can see them without looking around. An arrow is heading for him and he catches it in his hand before it hits.

"Five men," he states, tossing the broken arrow to the ground. He points, two men to their right and Lee disappears to take care of them. One to the front and Sakura nods in acknowledgement. He takes the two on the left.

They are dressed in uniforms and hiding armor under the cloth. One is reloading the crossbow while the other draws his sword. Even though Neji is unarmed, the two men are clearly outmatched.

The sword wielder attacks, hoping to give his partner enough time to reload. It's a clumsy strike, betraying a lack of training. They're young, Neji realizes, but it doesn't stop him from catching the boy's arm and breaking it at the elbow.

The boy screams in his pain and his partner bring up his crossbow only to see that his target has disappeared. The weapon is ripped from his hands and he barely gets to look over his shoulder before he is knocked unconscious. A second later, the other boy is silent, his scream quelled by an expert strike to his temple that crumples him to the ground.

Neji looks again, finding his two teammates. Each has managed to take down their targets but he can see in the distance the approach of more men. He lets loose a high whistle and the trio regroups, heading down the streets, looking for a place to hide.

It's Sakura who sees the slightly ajar sewer cover and makes a run for it. They drop down into the darkness and Neji watches the road above him, tracking the movement of their pursuers. It's almost half an hour before he's satisfied they've lost them.

"What happened?" Sakura demands the second the all clear was given.

"They were expecting us," Lee states grimly. "That means…"

"The team's cover was blown long before they staged their final assault," Neji continues.

Sakura is silent, having nothing to add. After all, it makes sense. The safe house would never have been compromised if Shikamaru's team had maintained their cover. She watches Neji, marveling at how he can use terms like 'final assault' without flinching. She can't say things like that yet. Every time she tries to accept the fact that the team they're tracking is really dead, she just sees Ino, shell shocked and in disbelief over the loss of her husband and friend.

Lee puts a hand on her shoulder and she realizes she's not the only one who's having trouble accepting it. She smiles slightly in reassurance to him and looks back at their team leader. He's looking at her but the look in his eyes is almost like he was expecting someone else.

"What now?" she asks softly.

"We have to assume that they have our images photographed," Neji states, back to his normal stoic self. "There's no chance to establish a second safe house, let alone communicate with Konoha. We were given two weeks to discover what we could so they won't send any rescue squad after us until then."

Sakura knows what that means. If they are captured, no one will look for them for at least two weeks. For a moment, she can see the team that is sent for them. The same grim looks on their faces. Maybe it will be Naruto who leads that team. Would he view it with the same detached outlook Neji does?

"We should not stay in one place for too long," Lee notes. "Sakura-san, perhaps you can decode the messages as we move?"

She nods, mind fully back on the task at hand. It is not difficult to see a pattern and she realizes why. Always five steps ahead, Shikamaru must have realized that a rescue team would have her on it. After all, she is one of the few people in the village who can keep up with him intellectually.

"They started at the factory and library," she whispers, following her companions without missing a step. She pauses at the next part of the code and frowns. It has switched from characters to numbers and she has to force her train of thought to another code system.

"Sakura-san?" Lee calls as she bobbles a bit and almost loses her footing.

She shakes her head. "Sorry, trying to follow Shikamaru's train of thought can be… well troublesome." He smiles for the first time since they arrived.

"What's the problem," Neji asks from his position in the front.

"His code is about eighty percent letters but there are occasionally these batches of numbers that make no sense. They aren't coordinates or times, just integers and decimals without meaning."

The team says nothing for a few minutes, the silence broken only by the sound of their footsteps on the wet stones.

"You said they were discussing a factory and a library before, correct?" Neji finally asks.

Sakura doesn't answer him right away. Instead her mind fires ahead and follows his train of thought before he can finish it himself.

"I see it, the first set are library codes. Three books from the looks of it."

Neji barely inclines his head in agreement as he corrects their path to move towards the library. Sakura is thoroughly lost by now, even having memorized the map. Lee however looks unconcerned as Neji winds them through the sewers. She wonders if he knows where they are but comes to the conclusion that this must be part of being on Gai-sensei's team.

Five minutes later, they stop at a ladder and wait for Neji to scan the area. As soon as he's convinced no one is around, he climbs up to street level. The sewer has led them to a side alley next to the library. Unlike the other buildings in the area, the tall brick structure is untouched by time. It is pristine and by the looks of the lock on the side door, heavily guarded.

Neji walks forward and puts his hands on the wall, eyes active and straining as he peels the layers of brick and mortar away. He finds the guards and watches their patterns for a while until he is confident he knows how to avoid them.

Taking some of the papers from Sakura, he draws on the back, making a map and planning a route. He's so engrossed in his work that he doesn't hear the door next to them open until it's too late.

Lee's speed saves them and the guard about to exit is on the ground before he even realizes he is hit. Searching through his pockets, Lee holds out a key card and a radio. It is almost too easy but Neji takes the risk and they go inside.

There is no surprise attack, no secret guards waiting for them. Instead they walk through the library, steering clear of the guards and making their way to the main stacks. Why the place is so heavily guarded is still in question by the time they reach the card catalog. But the radio crackles to life as the captain of the guard demands to know where one of his guards has disappeared to. There is not enough time to explore anymore.

It takes Sakura a few seconds to orient herself and then she plunges into the stacks, pulling one book, then the second and finally the third. Footsteps echo outside the main room and they're running again, barely avoiding patrols as they dash through the library and exit out the same door as before.

Down in the sewers they run again, waiting for Neji to give the all clear. It comes, again, after thirty minutes. Sakura stops running immediately, her arms heavy from having to carry the books the entire time. Shikamaru had chosen large volumes of useless knowledge, knowing they were less likely to be picked up by a random patron. She divides them up and they begin searching.

Within each tome are scraps of paper, Shikamaru's distinct scrawl clearly present even before they have finished putting it together.

"It looks like the factory," Sakura remarks, remembering the map from the mission briefing. "Only…"

"There are added rooms," Neji observes.

"Then that is our next stop," Lee adds. He stands up and looks at Neji, waiting for him to proceed.

Neji doesn't move right away. Like Lee, he is anxious to get to the next place, to follow the trail, to find every last clue until the mystery is solved. Until he can say with certainty that he knows what has happened. Because that is all he can do now. Finish what she started.

He looks over at Sakura, knowing she is the most tired of the group. But she is standing up stretching her arms. "It can't be much farther from here," she says confidently, a smile on her face at his expression. "I'm learning to keep up with you."

He smirks briefly before standing up himself. "It's late enough that none of the workers should be there. It is the best time to go." And then they're off again.

Sakura soon realizes that she is not as good at tracking as Neji is. She only thought she knew where they were so it's a surprise, to say the least, when he stops moving after only five minutes of travel. He doesn't have to give her a bemused look but she knows he's thinking it as she takes a few extra steps beyond him.

She does grant him an annoyed glare to let him know that she is not going to take being made fun of. Lee, oblivious to the wordless interaction, quickly climbs the stairs after Neji gives the all clear.

He gets to the top and stops moving immediately. It wouldn't have mattered what time they arrived here, the entire factory has been cleared out. He takes a tentative step up and it echoes in the empty expanses, reaching up to the ceiling almost fifty feet above them before tapering off.

"What happened?" Sakura asks as soon as she sees the factory.

Lee is about to speculate when Neji holds up his hand to call for silence. Something is wrong. Something in his gut tells him something is wrong, just like it did the night his uncle was killed. His eyes see nothing but he feels them there. It's dizzying and he almost loses his balance as his mind tries to come to terms with what his eyes are seeing – or not seeing in this case.

Lee takes a step towards him to ask what is wrong and suddenly the world pauses as all his instincts and intuition crash together in alarm. He can't get the warning out of his mouth. The only warning his teammates will have is his body, hurtling backward from the force of two dozen arrows.


	3. Chapter 3

Sakura and Lee do not wait for him to fall. They already know that his body will never hit the ground. Instead an arrow-laden log bounces across the factory floor. By the time it comes to a stop, they have scattered. There is no sign of an enemy but Neji knows that they are there and that he cannot see them. In this fight he is blind and unsure of what to do.

Sakura makes the decision for him. He sees her jump back on to the ground, Lee suddenly appearing behind her. A few hand signs later and she holds her fingers to her lips, an explosion of fire coming forth from there.

Lee follows the flame as it is deflected off an unseen foe. Neji knows Lee's weights are still on but he moves with inhuman speed none the less. A low sweep and there is a distinct clang as the metal on his ankle hits something solid. It's over now. A flurry of punches that even Neji sometimes has trouble keeping track of is unleashed on the hapless foe and it clatters to the ground moments later.

But they still can't see it, they only know it's there by the fact that Lee appears to be standing in mid air and several feet off the ground. Lee looks around him, confused until he feels whatever is beneath him start to shake. Quickly, he jumps out of the way just moments before it explodes and unwittingly leaves Sakura vulnerable.

Neji watches as her next fireball hits something. Before the enemy can react, he appears at its side, a Kaiten in motion almost instantly. There is a horrible wrenching sound and a explosion of sparks. Two limbs are thrown to either side of the room, leaving an armless and visible metal beast struggling.

Sakura passes by him and Neji watches as she makes contact with her fist. The lrumors are true, she has the Hokage's strength. What was left of the creature explodes under her attack. Lee has to hurry to catch her as the aftershock throws her several feet back.

They regroup in the center of the room and wait silently for the next attack.

"Nothing?" Lee asks.

Neji shakes his head. It is just as before. There are creatures but they can't be seen by man or Hyuuga.

"I've got an idea," Sakura says. She brings a fist up and they realizes at the last second she is about to hit the floor. They barely leap out of the way as the factory floor cracks in each of the cardinal directions. For a moment, Neji thinks she has lost her mind but the dust on the abandoned floor kicks up and blankets the entire factory, including the remaining three stalkers.

They split without a word, each taking a target. Neji reaches his before it can react. His hands glow blue with chakra and he hits it on the outline of the shoulders, amputating its arms. Without pause, he sweeps his right hand across what appears to be its neck and decapitates it. When that doesn't appear to get its attention, he turns and plunges both hands into the center of it, disemboweling it and spilling wires and oil onto the ground. He is about to attack again when he is pulled away roughly.

Before he can argue with Lee for denying him the right to finish the job, the machine explodes and collapses the floor under it. He gets a better look at Lee and sees that one of his eyebrows has been singed.

"They'll explode before you can finish them," he states grimly.

They turn and find Sakura doing her best to avoid being hit by the third. The two start to advance but she sees them before they get too close.

"Don't!" she yells. "We need one intact!"

They hold their ground, confident in their teammate's skills. She weaves under the attack of her enemy, graceful as she avoids the punch. It is like watching _her_ again, the way she dodges and delivers well timed strikes with her kunai. And for a moment, Neji thinks he can see her again.

But it's not her, it's Haruno. Haruno who was once easy to dismiss as being weak. Haruno who followed, longed for that traitor Uchiha no matter what he did. And Haruno who helped bring him back. He often wondered what she and Uzumaki had to say to convince him to come home. Apparently, they were more then capable of beating him into submission.

The enemy hits her and she crumples backwards. And then suddenly, Neji is moving, completely unaware that he is. Because the line between Haruno and her has blurred again and he doesn't think twice. The machine is dead on the ground in an instant and Sakura is glaring at him angrily, a drop of blood trailing from her lip.

"I was fine!" she yells, spitting out some more blood onto the floor. He blinks in surprise and doesn't even know how to apologize. He is frozen as he tries to understand his actions. He is so lost in thought he completely forgets Lee's warning.

They are lucky that the floor, already weakened by Sakura's attack, buckles and falls under them before the brunt of the explosion can hit them. They fall at least twenty feet, ninja training saving them as they use chakra to disperse the impact. Then it's a simple matter of dodging the debris. It's all over in a matter of seconds.

Lee calls down to them to make sure they are okay as he descends slowly. Neji puts a hand to his head and watches it come back red with blood. There's a soft tingle as Sakura closes up the wound. She's frowning as she does so.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I forgot."

But the statement doesn't mean anything to him. He doesn't understand. Lee lands next to them and kicks up a layer of dust. Sakura starts to cough.

"Ah, sorry Sakura-san, I didn't…"

He trails off suddenly and Neji looks up, following the path of Lee's gaze. The entire basement of the factory is ashes. There is a smell, something in the air that makes him think that this is more then just ash.

He looks over and sees that Sakura has gone pale. Lee puts a hand on her shoulder and she collapses to the ground, shaking and tears in her eyes. Neither of them understands what she can feel. For a medic-nin so in touch with life, she has realized what happened before Lee steps on the skull.

His and Neji's eyes meet and they understand Sakura's reaction. Neji stands up and starts to scan the area in some desperate attempt to comprehend what has happened. Instead, he is met with darkness. There are no signs of life.

He leaves Lee to take care of their emotional teammate and starts to walk through the ashes, attempting to not think about what they represent. There are more bone fragments and bits of cloth scattered throughout the expanse. He tries to ignore that some of them are too small to be adults.

He walks towards a small pile and carefully pushes the debris around until he can find a clue. It's an embroidered badge, badly burned but the name of the factory is still visible.

There is nothing. Not a shred of evidence of what caused this massacre. When he returns to the group, he can only shake his head at Sakura's hopeful look.

"Who were they?" she asks softly.

"Factory workers," he replies grimly.

"But… why?"

He thinks about it, trying to understand the rational of the madman who would order this. "Whatever they were building here needed to be kept secret."

The pieces start to fall together. The team before them had come here to investigate a possible weapon. It had been built and in order to ensure the secrecy of how that was done, anyone involved was killed. Not just the workers, but from the look of it, their families as well.

"What sort of monster would do this?" Lee asks.

But there is no answer to a question like that. So instead they sit in the silent graveyard for a few moments before Neji starts to head back up to the main floor. It is a quiet climb and that should bring some relief. They know nothing is waiting to attack them but the silence is eerie and unnatural.

The burning husks of their enemies are still there and he knows it won't be long before reinforcements arrive. But he can't leave just yet. There is no clue of where to go after this. He needs to find the trail again.

Sakura and Lee are anxious as he scours the expanse of the building until finally, his eyes settle on a small doorway up a flight of metal stairs. From here, close to 80 meters away, he can make out the word 'Office'.

* * *

She ran a finger over the blue badge on the overalls before Shikamaru took it away. Almost immediately, he started to rip some of the lining out. She wanted to ask what he was planning but Chouji returned a grim look on his face.

"I don't know about this," he said, tugging at the sleeves over his jumpsuit. "I look like a blimp."

She laughed and didn't try to apologize this time. It had only been a couple of days since she started working with them, but she was comfortable joking around a bit. "You look like a middle-aged factory worker."

He sighed. "Maybe I'm in the wrong profession then." He lifted his arms to try to stretch the uniform and heard something tear. Shikamaru looked up at the noise and gave him a look of disgust.

"Come on! I spent a good ten minutes getting that thing ready," he complained.

"Sorry," Chouji replied sheepishly under the glare of his friend. She picked up a spare needle and some thread.

"Turn around, I should be able to fix this easily," she said, threading the needle with little effort. She found the tear in the lining and quickly went to work. She saw what Shikamaru was trying to hide, a small camera and some blank paper.

It made sense. After all, the plan was that she would distract the manager while Chouji made his way to the manager's office. This would let him quickly record anything interesting without arousing too much suspicion. She finished the last stitch and tied the thread off with a flourish.

"There!" she smiled.

"Damn it," Shikamaru cursed. "If I knew you could do that, I would have had you do this work."

Without waiting for an actual invitation, she walked over and plucked the work from his hands. "What, didn't Ino sew?"

Shikamaru snorted while Chouji tried a more verbal reaction. "Ino would not need to sew. If something gets torn or looses a button, she gets a new one."

"If something is a week old, she gets a new one," Shikamaru added.

"It's not that bad," Chouji retorted. "It's at least a month and that's because seasons change and it's not practical anymore."

The other two are silent before they start to laugh. "Man, she has you trained well," she managed through the fit of giggles.

Chouji was about to reply when Shikamaru's mood shifted. "Makimoto! What are you doing in my office?" he snapped.

She barely blinked, knowing that Shikamaru was testing his teammate's resilience again. She wondered if he had planned it this way, getting them into a more relaxed state before forcing them to remember their stories.

It wasn't the first time he had done that. Last night, he had forced them awake at three in the morning and made them recount their covers. It was cruel but necessary. The slightest slip could give them away.

"I was looking for a pencil, sir!" Chouji answered almost immediately. "Mine broke and..."

"Why didn't you just sharpen it?" Shikamaru demanded.

Chouji held up the pencil, showing that it had broken into three small pieces. Shikamaru glared at him for a few minutes, watching the emotions as they played out across Chouji's face.

"Good. You're ready."

Chouji smiled, this shift in his emotions dramatic but a testament to the hours he spent training. She wished she could be that confident. But for a kunoichi who has spent her life dedicated to ranged attacks, a close up defense is always more tricky.

Tricky but not impossible. She smiled to herself as she remembered the endless hours of being at the center of a whirlwind. If she could survive that, she could survive anything. She caught Chouji looking at her and followed a tilt of his head tilt towards Shikamaru.

She jumped and quickly delved into her bit, batting her eyes as she did. "It's just too hot to be working," she complained, leaning back on the wall like she was supposed to on the mission. She let out a long sigh and casually fingered one of the top buttons on her shirt. "I could use a nice," she started, popping the first one out of its hole. "Cold." The second came free easily. "Drink," she finished pulling the last one.

She paused there and waited for a response. When one didn't come she blinked a few times and looked over at her teammates. "Was that wrong?"

Shikamaru answered first. "No… just eerie," he said. "You channeled Ino perfectly." Chouji managed a nod.

She smiled. "Well she did train me for a few days before we left."

"You're a fast learner," Chouji muttered.

She shrugged off the compliment, feeling a bit of heat come to her face. "Okay, I'm done," she said quickly, changing the topic of discussion as she knotted the thread and cut it. Shikamaru examined her handiwork and gave her a nod of approval.

"These are your communication earpieces. You won't be able to talk to me but I'll give you direction. Chouji, you'll have to move fast when I give you the signal, we'll only have a small window."

"Got it!" There was a pause. "I saw this Korean Barbeque place on the way home from the factory…"

Shikamaru couldn't help but grin. "Yeah, yeah, if it's a success, it'll be my treat."

Chouji cheered and picked her up, swinging her around in a dance to his impromptu tune about delicious pork. She laughed and tried to keep up, eventually tumbling into an irate Shikamaru.

It was enough to forget the danger of this mission, even if only for a few moments. Three minutes later, out on the main road, their mood changed dramatically. Heavily armored soldiers moved through the crowds, randomly choosing people and demanding to see paperwork. Not even their attempts to blend into the crowd helped. Chouji got pulled aside and she had to leave him behind.

As he was her husband, she was supposed to pretend to be concerned but it was no act. She couldn't help looking over her shoulder constantly to see if he was behind her. Had they found the earpiece? Had they searched him and felt the camera hidden in the lining?

Or worse… was this what they had heard rumors about? The death squads that assassinated random people to keep the population living in fear.

"He's clear," came a soft voice in her ear and the sigh of relief was real. She waited at the side of the road until he came up to her.

"Okay?" she asked softly.

He nodded and she took his elbow to make sure of that. With no more words exchanged they made their way to the factory.

The gates were packed, soldiers attempted to push back the unemployed city dwellers desperate to get a job in one of the last working factory in the city. Chouji flashed his id papers and pulled her along, slipping into the role of husband flawlessly as he feigned concern that she might be crushed.

Once inside, they went their separate ways, he to the factory line and she to the mechanics' shed.

"Good morning, Makimoto-san!" one of the mechanics chirped seeing her approach.

"Good to see you made it in," added another.

"The crowd was immense this morning, wasn't it?" she said, watching Chouji out of the corner of her eye.

"It's getting worse. I heard that the company's other factory closed down earlier this week."

One of the men shook his head. "Poor Kuroyama, our city is on its last legs. It won't be long until even this place is closed. And then…"

"Stop that, we mustn't think like that," a young woman next to him snapped. "For now, we have jobs and a company that takes care of us and our children. I have to believe that this job will be here tomorrow."

The group fell silent for several moments, brought back the present only by the harried arrival of another mechanic.

"Hey Shinako, where's your partner in crime?"

Shinako looked at them, still pale and breathing hard. "His apartment… it was completely destroyed. The soldiers there said he had been arrested for treason and shot last night."

"Shit, we have a problem."

She didn't show any outward reaction to the sudden hiss from her earpiece, merely kept making concerned sounds as Shinako related the story in more detail. Dividing her attention between her coworkers and Shikamaru's panicked voice was trying enough but when the whistle blew to signify the start of the work day, she lost most of what Shikamaru had said.

She paused and tried to somehow telepathically tell him to repeat what he had said. She heard some papers rustling in the background and the very disgruntled mumbling of their team leader.

"That idiot! Whoever did information retrieval before we came here was an idiot. Matsumoto doesn't like girls with short brown hair. He likes boys with short brown hair.'

She turned cautiously and caught sight of Chouji, cornered by the factory boss and looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"Switch roles!" Shikamaru barked. "Get the camera and papers from Chouji"

She wanted to ask how but she had no way, so instead she excused herself and quickly moved over to where Chouji was, already formulating a plan in her mind. He looked at her approach and almost seemed relieved that she was intruding.

"Fuji-kun," she cried, quickly maneuvering in front of him and enveloping him in a hug. "Something terrible happened."

Chouji caught on quick, feeling her hand run down the back of the overall and towards the false stitching. "What happened?"

Her fingers worked quickly and the seam fell apart in her hand. She quickly removed the tiny camera and paper. "Something happened to Shinako's friend and…" She trailed off and pretended to suddenly see their boss.

"Oh… I'm sorry, Makimoto-san, I didn't see you there," she said quickly, slipping the items into the back of her belt.

Their boss looked annoyed but managed to say something about the troubling times they were facing before unceremoniously dismissing her back to work. As she left, she heard him mention something about a hole in Chouji's overall.

"It's… it's hot in here. I… could use a c-c-cold drink," Chouji stuttered.

"Good boy," Shikamaru celebrated, almost laughing at his friends' predicament. "The naïve innocent routine will cover us for a bit. Our window is here, get to the office."

She pulled a pencil from her pocked and tripped slightly on her feet, grabbing onto the wall. The pencil broke into several pieces and she held them tightly in her hands. She changed direction and started towards the stairs. Her foot was on the first step when a voice behind her caught her attention.

"Stop right there."

She didn't have to pretend to be surprised. She was caught completely off guard. And for a shinobi of her caliber that was a shock. For a moment, she was worried that she missed something but Shikamaru had returned to his irate tone of voice.

"Where the hell did that guy come from?" he asked. "He wasn't on the video on a second ago!"

She couldn't answer him so instead she acted as innocent as she could, holding up the shattered pencil. "The boss said I could replace it," she tried, hoping that he had seen her little scene with him and Chouji before.

The guard looked at her and then back towards Matsumoto. She could see a few tufts of brown hair under his helmet and tried another tactic. "I could just get one from my husband, he's speaking with Matsumoto-san right now."

It did the trick. The guard obviously didn't want to lose the chance of having Matsumoto's attention elsewhere. He gave her a gruff nod and pointed up towards the steps, following on a few inches behind.

"Don't risk it!" Shikamaru barked. "We'll figure out another way."

She couldn't argue the point. The guard was standing at the door as she walked over to the desk and started shuffling through the debris there to find a pencil. She desperately tried to find something, anything they could use. Shikamaru might believe that there was another way but this could be their only chance.

It was only two minutes before she could sense the guard was getting restless. She grabbed the pencil there and let a little sigh out. "Sorry, he's not very neat is he?"

The guard didn't answer but instead escorted her down to the floor. The rest of the day, she felt him watching her. She made a great show of working on some of the factory machines, taking the occasional note on her clip board. When the final bell sounded, he was gone again, as if he had never been there at all.

She met up with Chouji and the poor boy looked exhausted. He must have spent the majority of the day attempting to avoid the attention of Matsumoto. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

But she shook her head with a small smile. Halfway home, she pushed him towards the barbeque place. When he tried to protest, she pulled out some of the papers that had been on her clipboard. He studied them for a second, looking at the notes she had scribbled with confusion.

"Numbers?" he asked.

"Part numbers," she replied. "A few items I saw on an order sheet from a company in this town called Guju Industries, dated last week. About two hundred of each of them."

"Ah, hell," Shikamaru sighed, walking up to meet them, his voice somewhere between annoyed and relieved. "Looks like dinner is on me then."


End file.
